PROVIDENCE 1: THE DEN OF COCKROACHES.

“You what?!” Tyle yelled out loud.

“Shhh, not so loud! What if the others hear this?” Kranis put his finger over his lips.

“They better hear this alright, cause I’ll bloody tell them!” Tyle stood up but Kranis quickly stopped him.

“Wait, we can still fix this! I’ll owe you one!” Kranis said as he holds on to Tyle’s legs.

“You owe me more than one.” Tyle kept going. Dragging Kranis along with him.

“I got an explanation!”

“Explain it to them!”

“No, wait! Scorch will kill me, man!”

“If he doesn’t then I will!”

The two childhood friend argued. Tyle was only going about his day, reading a particularly nice book when suddenly Kranis barged into the room and asked him for help. Tyle was curious at first and didn’t think much about it. It was only when Kranis revealed the reason why he needed help that Tyle burst out in anger

“Goddammit Kranis. After all that smack talk about how you should bring a scammer to deal with a scammer and you are the one who got scammed the worst out of all of us!” Tyle scolded Kranis. His hands folded and his face a look of irritation.

“In my defence… I—”

“I don’t want to hear it. It’s our life savings!”

“Technically, it’s just the rewards from the raid and the request from Cezza. So….”

Tyle looked down at Kranis with ‘the look’.

“How am I supposed to know that the bank will take all my money!”

“What bank? You mean the ‘business entity’ that you gave our money to in exchange for ‘stocks’?”

“Kuh…” Kranis flinched from Tyle’s response.

Tyle massaged his temples. “We got to fix this. Any ideas Mr Smartass?”

“I was thinking maybe we could go after the guy you know? Swords drawn out. Like what the old hag did with the slave traders.”

“Effinshia is on a whole nother level than us. If we go in like how she does it, we would be toast in two seconds. One of each of us.” Tyle counter-argued.

“Maybe go to the guards for help?”

“You think the guards would entertain us?”

“Maybe we could—”

Tyle cuts Kranis off. “Forget it. This is way out of our league. We should go back to the Guild Master. Hamza referred you to him, right? Maybe he could pitch in a word or two for us.”

Kranis only looked away before scratching his cheeks. ”It’s embarrassing man. You sure we can’t just pressure them?”

Tyle took a moment to think about it before giving Kranis a big flat no. He then walked out the door. His movements indicating that he was going to the Adventurer’s guild.

“Dude wait up!” Kranis followed behind. Closing the door before catching up to the mage.

The two walked down the hallway of the Inn when they suddenly heard a voice calling out to them. It was the soft and gentle voice of an exuberant girl.

“Kranis? Mr Safe?” Lanarya called out to them.

Kranis and Tyle looked over to see Lanarya calling out to them with a smile. Standing next to her was Scorch who was holding a bunch of cooking equipments.

“You guys look like you are in a rush? Is it a request?! Any monsters that need slaying?” She asked excitedly.

“No… Not really, we were just planning to check out on uh….” Kranis eyes darted around, trying to find something to tell Lanarya.

“There are some big sales on books down the streets. We were thinking of checking it out.” Tyle answered.

“Books? Muuuu, you have such boring hobbies, Mr Safe.” Lanarya’s excitement died down. Lanarya was apparently not the kind of person who likes reading books.

“This hobby of mine is the sole reason why this team has a battle mage in the first place. So if you don’t mind, we will be leaving now.”

“Hold up dude. Hey Lana, why aren’t you with the Witch Girl?” Kranis asked.

“Ahh… Viddy said she wanted some time alone. I think she’s still sad over what happened the other day.” Lanarya answered.

“I see… Well… uh, where is Ride by the way? I tried finding him everywhere.” Kranis asked another question.

This time it was Scorch who answered, “Oh. He went out and did his thing again. Walked out that door with his normal absent-minded attitude. Think he was heading to the park last I saw him.”

“Dammit, that idiot as well huh,” Tyle commented.

Lanarya had a face of confusion. “You guys make it sound like he does this a lot.”

Tyle put his hands on his face before letting out a grunt. “A lot is an understatement. He’s been doing this for as long as I know the guy. He would just daze out in the middle of nowhere and often times just walked with a blank look. The worst times are when you call out to him and he just stands there and does nothing back. You saw it as well right? Like what happened in the cave.”

“Ehh?! I never knew…” Lanarya responded, her hand on her mouth.

Kranis followed up the conversation. “Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as when I first saw him though. It only really started to happen when he became an adventurer. Sometimes I wonder if this is because his brain shuts down after a stressful day.”

“Yeah… I get what you mean. Sometimes I wonder how did he manage to survive to this very day,“ Scorch said out his thoughts on the matter.

Tyle was actually rather worried about Ride and wanted to see if he was alright. But then, he realized that he had another idiot to take care off. Giving a signal to Kranis, the two excused themselves saying they had something to do and that they are in a rush. Lanarya only replied with a “Bye Bye” while Scorch just nodded at them.

‘What were they doing with all those cooking pans?’ Tyle thought to himself as he exited the inn.

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“Hello, welcome to the Adventurer’s guild. How may I help you today?” A soft and sweet looking girl greeted them. Except that he wasn’t a girl. Tyle and Kranis knew of the infamous heart crusher that was in front of them. As sweet as his looks and his words, this man is not a Rose. He’s the thorn wearing a rose as a disguise.

“Hey, Rosa. We um… need to talk with Guild Master Hamza, you seen him anywhere?” Kranis asked the receptionist.

“Ahhh yes yes. I’m right over here.”

Before Rosa the receptionist could reply, Hamza arrived behind them and called out to the two members of Providence. Beside Hamza was his handsome assistant.

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“Is there anything you wish to discuss with me?” The slit-eyed merchant and guild master asked.

A little bit shocked from Hamza’s sudden appearance, Tyle asked: “Yeah... We do. Can we discuss this in private?”

“Why yes? Of course! Come come dear Rosa! I need a room. Tell Latham that I will meet him later.”

“Yes, Sir! This way please!” Rosa gave a cute salute and led the guys to a small private room.

…

…

...

On the way to the room, Tyle couldn’t help but think that this was a little bit too convenient. The fact that Hamza just happened to be standing there waiting for them kinda set out some red flags within Tyle’s mind. Nonetheless, he continued to follow Rosa to this private room. It’s not like they had any other choice anyways.

Once In the room, Tyle was blunt and straight out mentioned the problem to Hamza and asked if he could help them. They explained to him the problem with the bank and how Hamza was the one who referred them to the entity, how he was the only one who could help them out.

Hamza folded his arms before giving a complicated look. “Hmm. I don’t know if I should intervene.”

“Why not, man?” Kranis asked impatiently.

“Why why. I only referred the man to you Young Kranis. The rest is up to your party to deal with the consequences. Hardly my problem now is it?”

Kranis could only grit his teeth in response. “Come on man. Can’t you help us? You are a Guild master are you not? Also aren’t we friends?”

“Friends would not be the word I would use to describe our relationship, young Kranis. More like ‘Business Associates’.” He let out an innocent smile.

Tyle let out a grunt as he heard the response from Hamza. Typical businessman attitude. “Is there nothing you can do to help us, Guild Master? For this guy’s sake.” Tyle pointed his thumb at Kranis. “I don’t want to see him get murdered.”

“Oi!”

“I didn’t say that I won’t help. Just that my motto is that I never do things for free. Do you understand where I am going with this? Young Kranis and Young Tyle?”

“...you need a favour.”

Hamza clapped his hands in joy. “Yes yes. A favour! I always knew you were the smartest one young Tyle.”

“Oi!”

An evil smile crept up to Hamza’s face. “I’ll gladly help you if you would do me one favour… Assistant! The brochure!”

“Yes!” The young handsome receptionist placed on the table a brochure.

On the brochure was the advertisement for a well-known delicacy in Luth E’ll. One that Tyle and Kranis knew so well by now. One of the recipes dropped down from a Supreme, the fried rice enclosed with a giant cockroach shell.

A little note saying 'Buying shells for the price of your choosing!' Was on the bottom of the brochure.

Tyle just needed one look to understand the nature of the favour. “No,” he immediately responded. “I’m out.”

Tyle tried to leave but Kranis held onto him for dear life. “Please! Dude! You can’t just bail on me now!”

“Get someone else to do this.”

The two caused a scene while Hamza laughed with a gleeful smile."You two are such good friends. I wish you two good luck. You may find these shells in the sewage system. My assistant will help you gain access to it."

Hamza then stood up before leaving the room. The mage and the rogue still arguing with each other.

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"Urrghhhh…." Tyle let out a grunt as they walked in the network of sewers below Luth E'll. His shoes and feet wet having to traverse the murky waters.

"..." Kranis only remained quiet. His full attention on the surroundings. Looking out for traps and ambush, but more importantly, looking for the presence of Giant Cockroaches.

"Urrghhhhhhl…" Tyle let out another grunt. This time louder than the previous one.

"Dammit bro, could you like shut up?! I'm trying to concentrate here!" Kranis yelled at his friend.

"URGHHHHHH!!!" Tyle purposely let out a louder grunt in response.

"I get it alright. I'll pay you back for this dammit."

"You can pay me back by licking my shoes clean from and scrubbing my legs till they don't smell anymore." Tyle scoffed.

"Look I'm sorry alright. Now can we get back to the job? The faster we get this done the faster we can leave this place."

"Sorry is not going to make the fact that we are down here any bet—"

“Shh”

Tyle was cut off by Kranis who gave him a serious look. His hand formed a signal telling Tyle to stop and get prepared for combat. Tyle nodded back and drew out his weapon. A spear. Kranis on the hand took out his dual daggers and walked ahead of Tyle. His presence thin and his movements were silent.

Three. One big. Two small.

Kranis sent out a few more signals. Tyle nodded further and moved next to Kranis to take a closer look at the enemies that they were about to kill. His face curved inwards into a cringe when he saw the giant size insect just moving about. Butterflies appeared in his stomach as he tried to hold down the revolting feeling. It was two small cockroaches just standing on the wall doing nothing. The third one, the big one, by a nest of sorts. Surrounded by insect eggs.

Though, despite being described as small, Tyle thought that they were at least the size of his torso. Tyle quickly whispered the incantations for the spell ‘wind blade’ and sent them towards the cockroaches on the wall.

*Shing *Shing

Sharp piercing sounds rang out and the two cockroaches were cut in half before falling to the ground. Tyle let out a sigh of relief thinking it was over. He thought that it wasn’t so bad after all, that it was a little bit too easy. His thoughts were soon interrupted when the two half of the cockroaches kept moving despite being cut in half. The front part of the cockroach frantically running around aimlessly in the area while the bottom half was upside down, swinging its legs wildly. All while thick goo seeped out of their seams as this was happening.

It wasn’t long before one of the cockroaches ran up to Tyle’s location, Its big antennas swinging around in random. Tyle was rather disgusted about the whole ordeal and backed away as soon as he could from the hideous monster. Kranis took this time to sneak up on the cockroach before stabbing it right in the head with his dagger. He then incapacitated the cockroach with one swift pull. A thick goo came out of the cockroach’s head and poured all over onto Kranis.

Kranis almost vomited from the fact but managed to hold it in as he backed away from the cockroach. But… it wasn’t over. The cockroach was still moving and now even more frantic than ever. Tyle had to use his spear to cut off the Cockroaches legs in order to keep it at one place before it finally lost energy and died. Thick smelly goo could be seen on his weapon as well.

However, it wasn’t over yet for them. They still have one half-dead cockroach to kill and one more cockroach just hanging out by the nest. Taking a deep breath and trying his best to stomach the smell and the great urge to vomit, Tyle began casting more wind blades.

*Shing *Shing

The spell flew forth towards the last two cockroaches. The first cockroach was cut cleanly but the last one dodged the attack with ease.

“What?” Tyle was rather surprised at how agile the cockroach is and how easily it dodged the attack. Despite its large size, it was much different than the first two cockroaches.

*Chak *Chak

Kranis did a follow-up attack on the cockroach with his short bow only for the arrows to miss as well. Hitting the ground.

It was then that the cockroach let out a weird screech. Sounds of crawling could be heard when suddenly Kranis yelled out:- “Dude! Grab what you can and get out!”

Kranis went and grabbed the remains of one of the cockroaches before he began to run away from the place. Tyle only followed his example and did the same. Soon running away from the area as well. Not without grabbing all the dead cockroach parts that he could. Holding his breath as best he could in order to not breath in the pungent smell.

Tyle thought about how it was rather weird for Kranis to just yell like that and give the retreat order. It was only a few moments later that Tyle finally understood why. He could cockroaches of different sizes ranging from small normal cockroach to huge human-sized ones coming outside from the cracks and holes of the sewers. There were hundreds of them, all running along the walls in a frenzy.

The two were lucky that they got out of there in time. Who knows what would have happened if they stayed.

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“I hate you,” Tyle said as he walked towards the guild house. On his back was a bag full of something best left undescribed. His body all sticky and smelly from all the thick cockroach blood.

“Yeah, yeah. I know. You’ve only told me about it like seven times already,” Kranis responded. Also in a similar situation as Tyle.

“I hate you,” Tyle said one more time.

This interaction kept up until both of them reached the guild house. The door creaked open and the silent stares from all the people in the guild house fell upon them. Tyle and Kranis paid them no mind before walking up to the counter. A beautiful man disguised as a woman greeted them with a smile. One of his hands holding his nose shut.

“I’ll… bring you to where guild master Hamza is,” He said as soon as he finished greeting them.

He went out from the counter and prompted the two to follow him. And so they did, out into the open training fields of the Adventurer’s Guild. Hamza standing in the middle of the field with a bunch of his assistants waiting in standby. They were wearing thick gloves and on their face were breathing masks. Rosa then pointed at Hamza’s location before running away in a hurry. Unable to stand the smell coming out from Tyle and Kranis.

“I hate you,” Tyle said one more time to the Rogue.

Kranis let out a groan before moving towards to Hamza who only let out a jubilant voice as they saw he saw the two. “Welcome back! Why I see you have gotten the things I need. Very nice indeed. Yes yes, very nice.”

“Yes yes. You better keep the end of your bargain dammit.” Kranis said in annoyance as he threw the bag he was carrying towards one of Hamza’s assistant.

Tyle did the same and tossed his bag towards them as well. The assistants were quick to open and process the package. Carefully and meticulously slicing open the cockroach parts into more palatable sizes before repackaging them and storing them in a carriage nearby. If there was a word to describe their actions, it would be efficient.

“Of course. But… first things first.” Hamza looked towards the two. “Please please, take a bath! You must get rid of that obnoxious smell!”

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Tyle and Kranis walked out of the guild house clean from all forms of sticky insect goo that day. On Kranis hands was a sack of gold and a cheque. A big chunk of all the gold that they had lost. With Hamza’s help, the people who scammed Kranis had no other choice but to refund him. They couldn’t possibly give back all the gold so Hamza had to pull some strings. The remainder of the money was then stored in cheque form that can be claimed from the guild at any moment.

The two walked in silence on the way to the Inn that they were staying in. Not uttering a single word. It was only when they arrived at the Inn when Kranis spoke to Tyle in a soft serious tone: “Not a word of this to them. Got it?”

Tyle only let out a sigh. “You owe me one for this dammit. Next time this happens I will seriously gut you. Got that?” He gave a stark reminded before entering the inn.

Kranis gave a shrug before entering the Inn as well.